How to Make A Cheap WiFi Antenna Booster

Are you experiencing a poor signal on your wifi?  Did you know that there is a way to boost the signal that will not cost you that much?  Watch this video.

Thanks to Grace of www.revision3.com for allowing me to post this video.

How To Map A Network Drive

1. On your desktop double click "Computer" for Windows Vista and 7 (or My Computer for Windows XP)
2. On the address bar access the computer you want to map a network drive (e.g. \\server\foldername) or click Network (or Network Places) and look for the computer name
3. Once you are able to access the computer, look for the shared folder on that computer that you want to get an access.
4. Right click on the folder
5. Click "Map Network Drive"
6. Select the drive you want to assign for that shared folder
7. Put a tick mark on "Reconnect at logon"
8. Click Finish
9. You will notice a new drive is added. If you double click "Computer" from your desktop the drive looks like this FOLDERNAME(\\SERVER)(Z:)

If you want to remove the Network Drive, double click on "Computer" (or My Computer) move the mouse  pointer on that network drive right click and click Disconnect.

Mapping a network drive makes the accessing of files easier.  That way you don't have go through the long process of opening the shared folder on another computer because it's like you have a local folder which you can open anytime.

MAC Address Filter

To protect the wifi what we usually do is to setup a password.  We can setup another security on the wifi by enabling the MAC address filter.  Since changing the MAC address requires advance knowledge on hacking as compared to changing an ip address, MAC address filtering is definitely a deterrent.  Basically, all the machines and peripherals that is capable of connecting to a network has its MAC address such as personal computers, video game consoles, smartphones, printers and so on.

This is how to get the MAC address of the computer:

1. Click Start  or Windows Logo
2. On Run type cmd
3. Type ipconfig /all
4. Look for the “Physical Address of your wireless LAN adapter”

For the other peripherals such as print servers you will find the MAC address on the label or upon installation of the driver.

It is difficult to give the exact detail on how to enable the MAC address filter of your router because each brand has its own way of enabling it.  However, that feature is common to most of the brands of router.  You just have to read the user’s manual on how to use this feature.  Usually, you will find it inside the WLAN setting. Once you are done enabling the MAC address filter you may now add the MAC address of your computer onto the router. The router will now verify the computers that will attempt to connect, if it does not find the MAC address on its list it will deny the access.

Enabling the MAC address filter may not be the ultimate solution on securing the wifi however having a second security is better than just relying on one.

POP Vs. IMAP

If you're using email client software such as Outlook and Thunderbird you will notice these two protocols called POP and IMAP on the account setting.  Before we begin let us find out what POP and IMAP stands for.  POP is Post Office Protocol while IMAP is Internet Message Access Protocol.

IMAP is like a window to your email on the email server.  If you check your email on your computer it retains the messages on the email server although you will see them appear on your computer.  It also synchronizes the folders of your email client on your computer with that of the email server.  POP on the other hand works the other way around.  If you open your email client software on your computer it moves all the email from the email server to your computer. Although you will find an option on the email client softwares that you can retain a copy on server however by default that is disabled.

The advantage of IMAP over POP is you can access your email anywhere. You will find it useful if you are travelling because even while you are away from the office or school you still have an access to your email.

Email Tracer

Would you like to know the origin of the email you received?  Before you do that you have to copy first the email header of the email you want to trace.  The picture above is a sample of an email header, there are some information that are covered for privacy reason.  For the following email you may follow the instructions on how to get the email header.

Yahoo
1. Open an email
2. At the lower right of the screen, click Full Headers
3. Highlight the email header
4. Press Ctrl + C

Gmail
1. Open an email
2. Click Show Original
3. Highlight the email header
4. Press Ctrl + C

Thunderbird
1. Open an email
2. Click View
3. Click Message Source
4. Highlight the email header
5. Press Ctrl + C

Outlook Express
1. Click File menu
2. Click Properties
3. Click Details tab
4.Click Message Source
5. Highlight the email header
6. Press Ctrl + C

Once you are done with the copying of email header open this website http://www.ip-adress.com/trace_email/  and under  the “For email tracing copy and paste an email header in this field:” paste the email header.  Click Trace Email Sender button.

From now on you will be able to know where an email originated. Happy tracing....

Bandwidth Speed Test

Do you want to know the speed of your internet?  There are some websites that do bandwidth speed test such as these websites below.  One thing I like about them is they test both the download and upload speed.  Usually the other websites test only the download speed.  If your computer is connected to a network you have to make sure that the other computers are not accessing the internet except the one that you will use for testing so you can get an accurate result. 

1. www.speedtest.net
2. www.speakeasy.net
3. www.dslreports.com
4. www.bandwidth.com

By knowing the speed you can verify if you are getting the right bandwidth that you applied for from your ISP.  If the test result is close to what you applied for then there is no problem with that. However if the margin is too wide perhaps you might want to check where the problem is coming at.  Start in this sequence computer -> router -> modem -> ISP.